Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Burden of the Breathing Rhian looked up slowly, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths.
The surface they had landed on wasn’t just a platform, it was a massive stone slab, protruding from the side of the ravine like part of an ancient ruin.
Far along its curve, he spotted the entrance of a cave, wide and dark like a wound in the cliff face.
He tried standing, but the effort made his legs buckle. Pain shot up his side, and he caught himself against the stone wall with a grunt.
His muscles were trembling from more than injury, he was drained.
His [Reptilian Regeneration] was doing what it could, but it wasn’t fast enough. His body needed rest, but rest wasn’t an option.
He leaned heavily against the wall and looked down at his hand. The school-issued watch was still strapped to his wrist, surprisingly intact despite the fall and the fight. It hummed faintly, a soft yellow glow pulsing from the screen.
His stomach turned.
Yellow meant E-Rank.
Something was nearby. Strong. Possibly more than one.
He looked at the cave again, then back at Nia. She was still unconscious behind him. Her chest rose in slow, shallow breaths.
He slid down the wall and sat, his legs folding beneath him. His hands hung loosely at his sides. He stared at the cave opening, unable to tear his gaze away.
He didn’t know what was in there. He didn’t want to find out.
But if he stayed here, if something emerged from that darkness, he wouldn’t be able to stop it. Not in this state.
He clenched his jaw, his heart thudding harder against his ribs. This wasn’t like the Spine Crawler queen. Back then, he had his team. Aras to control the battlefield. Ash to overwhelm. Nia to hold the line.
All he had now was exhaustion, a damaged body, and no blades. One of them had fallen during the struggle with the underwater creature. The other was left where he was picked up by that monster.
His hand shook as he wiped sweat and water from his face.
He was scared.
But that wasn’t new.
The fear felt familiar. The same helplessness from when he was younger. The same pressure in his chest when his parents were torn apart and all he could do was scream.
Now Nia was lying behind him, defenseless.
And something was in that cave.
Rhian pulled his knees in and buried his head for a moment. He didn’t cry this time. He’d done that already. The tears had dried.
He whispered to himself, voice rough.
"If I fail here, she dies."
He sat there, just breathing. Listening to the silence. Letting the fear sit with him. Because ignoring it wasn’t helping.
But he didn’t move.
Not yet.
But suddenly his mind worked.
He looked up. ’Right... the cores.’
’If I can absorb them... maybe I can rank up.’
’But how?’
It wasn’t that he didn’t know. They’d explained the basics in class, but no demonstrations were, though the theory was there. He just had to trust it would work.
He moved quickly, reaching for his bag. The straps were soaked, but the fabric held, still intact. When he unlatched it, his hands shook more than expected.
A few of the cores slipped out and rolled toward the edge of the stone platform. He cursed under his breath and scrambled to catch them before they could fall into the water.
He managed to grab them. A small pile of green-tinted F-Rank cores sat in front of him now, dull but still pulsing faintly. Among them sat one that glowed a deeper shade—brighter, sharper. The E-Rank.
He stared at it.
His mind flicked back to Ash. The bastard practically forced him to collect it. Now he was glad he did.
But that core was out of the question. He wasn’t dumb. They’d warned about trying to absorb anything above your rank. It tore you up inside. Overloaded your body. You might explode. Literally.
Still... he had enough F-Rank cores. Maybe more than enough.
He took a breath and opened his system to check the exact number.
---
[
Name: Rhian Locke
Age: 18
Divine Core: F-Rank (2%)
Bloodline: Ragnarok
]
---
His eyes widened. 2%.
It had been 1.07 after the fight with the queen. That was the last real battle he’d had. He hadn’t touched a monster since.
Which meant the fall... the struggle... dragging Nia from the deep...
That counted. Somehow.
Maybe that was what the Ragnarok Physique really measured. Not just battles. Not just clean kills. Risk. How close you were to death.
He looked at the watch on his wrist, still glowing yellow. Whatever was inside the cave... it wasn’t just a scare tactic.
Rhian closed the system, exhaled, and looked at the pile of cores in front of him.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let’s see if this works."
He sat up straight, placed the first core against his palm, and closed his eyes.
Rhian held the core in his palm, eyes closed, trying to remember what they taught.
It wasn’t just about touching it.
You had to focus, let your body draw in the energy like pulling in breath. Let the core release it, and guide it through your system.
The divine energy inside was unstable, and if it wasn’t absorbed properly, it could damage your nerves, or worse, rupture your core.
He focused.
Nothing happened.
The core sat cold in his hand, faintly glowing, but not reacting.
He furrowed his brow, steadied his breathing, and tried again. Slower this time. Not rushing.
Still nothing.
He opened his eyes, annoyed, and switched hands. Maybe it was the angle. He placed it back in his right palm, and shut his eyes again.
This time, he didn’t push. He just sat still. Tried to feel it, not just the core, but the faint pressure in the air around it. A tingle. A faint buzz like static on skin. When he caught that feeling, he imagined it being pulled in. Just a thread at first.
The core warmed.
A faint glow brightened.
Then... movement. Not exactly physical, but inside him. Like a stream being poured through a pipe. Thick and slow.
His hand tensed. The energy was heavy, heavier than he thought. It crawled up his forearm, sluggish and unsteady, like pouring syrup into muscle. It didn’t hurt, but it felt wrong. Like his body wasn’t sure what to do with it.
It didn’t go straight to his core.
Instead, it branched into his shoulder, where the talon wounds from the bird creature still burned faintly under the skin.
The energy settled there, clinging to the injury. The sting sharpened as the divine energy forced itself through the torn flesh.
He grunted and clenched his jaw.
The healing was rough. Not clean or smooth like regeneration. It forced the muscle to seal faster, dragging the edges of skin together from the inside.
It traveled next to his back, places where the impact of the fall still left bruises deep around the spine. His body tensed again as the warmth pooled and slowly faded. The pain didn’t vanish, but the ache dulled.
Only after that did the energy begin shifting downward again. Toward the center of his chest. Toward his core.
It moved slower now. Like the energy itself had grown tired.
He grit his teeth and adjusted his focus, guiding what little was left toward his center. It responded. Weakly, but it moved.
He opened his eyes briefly and looked at the core.
The glow had dimmed. The edges were dulling. The once vibrant energy was being drained.
After a full minute, the light flickered and finally died out.
The core turned gray. Dry. Like an old stone that had been burnt out.
Rhian exhaled and dropped it. His fingers tingled. His arms were heavy. That was one.
And most of it went to healing.
He looked at the rest in the pile. Then back at the yellow light still glowing faintly on his wrist.
This was going to take a while.